About Town | 5-19-14

Fruit growers meeting today

Fruit growers meeting today

West Hawaii chapter of Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers meets from 7 to 9 p.m. at the University of Hawaii Experiment Station in Kainaliu across from Aloha Theatre. Nonmembers are welcome to attend.

The meeting will feature a discussion on seeds with Ken Love and Brian Lievens. Importation, viability and related topics will be examined.

All attending are encouraged to bring fruit for sampling.

For more information, contact Lievens at 895-8753 or greenwizard@hawaii.rr.com or Love at 323-2417 or kenlove@hawaiiantel.net.

Toribio completes basic training

Air Force Airman Dathan K. Toribio graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas.

The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills. Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

Toribio is the son of Elroy U. and Crystal Jane H. Toribio of Papaikou. He is a 2010 graduate of Keaau High School.

Grant will provide coffee borer beetle control

Hawaii Department of Agriculture has awarded Kona Coffee Farmers Association a $136,665 grant for coffee borer beetle control.

Kona Coffee Farmers Association will work in collaboration with Farm &Garden, Inc. and The Kohala Center, and University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources to reduce infestation rates in North and South Kona for the 2014 growing season. Subsidized Beauveria bassiana will be distributed, spraying equipment will be made available, and education provided. The project will cost $273,330, $136,665 of which is provided in the grant, primarily to purchase 1,100 gallons of spray. The project will run June 15 through March 15, 2015.

Information will be distributed to Kona Coffee Farmers Association members at konacoffeefarmers.org.

Parks hosting film, book signing

The classic seafaring film, “The Navigators,” and the award-winning book, “Hawaiki Rising,” wil be presented from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday at Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site, 10 a.m. to noon Thursday at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park (book signing only) and 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday at Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park.

“The Navigators” was produced by Sam Low in 1983 and aired on PBS, nationally and internationally. Admission to see the film is free, however there is a $5 per car entry fee at Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park.

“Hawaiki Rising” is a saga of an astonishing revival of Hawaiian culture by voyagers who sailed deep into their ancestral past. The story is told in the words of the crew who created and sailed aboard Hokulea. The book has won the Samuel Kamakau Award for best book published in Hawaii in 2013, a Nautilus Award and a Ben Franklin Award. Low will sign books at each presentations.

Producer and author Low is a Harvard trained anthropologist, author, photographer and journalist. He has sailed aboard Hokulea on three ocean voyages.

Ride of Silence slated Wednesday

The public is invited to join People’s Advocacy for Trails Hawaii, Coffee Talk Riders, Hawaii Cycling Club and cyclists worldwide for the 2014 Ride of Silence Wednesday. Mayor Billy Kenoi will be one the participants.

The Ride of Silence is a bike ride of 5 to 12 miles, no faster than 12 mph, ridden in total silence and honors fellow cyclists injured or killed by motorists. The event raises awareness of bicyclists’ rights to the road and reminds the public to share the road with aloha.

The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Na Kamalei Toddler Playground just north of the soccer field at Old Kona Airport Park. Helmets are mandatory. Headlights and taillights are recommended. Black and red armbands will be provided

For more information, contact PATH at 326-7284, Hawaii Cycling Club at 818-732-9653 or Coffee Talk Riders at 987-2128.

USGS offering research grants

The U.S. Geological Survey will award up to $5 million in grants for earthquake hazards research in 2015.

“The grants offered through the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program are an established and long-standing effort that have proven to be a success every year, with talented, scientific applicants who significantly contribute to the advancement of earthquake research,” said Bill Leith, USGS Senior Science Advisor for Earthquake and Geologic Hazards. “Every year we are rewarded by innovative proposals from across the country, so we encourage the continued submission of new ideas to help earthquake science evolve and, ultimately, reduce earthquake losses.”

Interested researchers can apply online at grants.gov under funding opportunity number G14AS00036. Applications are due Thursday.

Each year the USGS awards earthquake hazards research grants to universities, state geological surveys, and private institutions. Past projects included investigating the Central Virginia Seismic Zone to develop a better understanding of this active seismic zone; examining the paleoseismic record in the Prince William Sound area of Alaska to characterize earthquakes prior to the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 to better understand future earthquakes in this hazard-prone area; and using GPS to measure ground deformation in the greater Las Vegas area and provide information on how faults will rupture in large, damaging earthquakes.